EXECUTION (PART 2)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word. 

Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

Acts 10:30-33

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Proper investment in preparation yields the fruit of proper execution.

That has been the message at the heart of this series of devotions from the tenth chapter of the Book of Acts as we have looked at separate interventions by God through His angel with a Roman centurion named Cornelius in Caesarea and the Apostle Peter in Joppa. In both of these individual cases, the Lord was preparing each man for what was to come so they could execute His plan to perfection. All they had to do was be obedient to taking the proper preparation He provided and then execute that preparation properly to achieve His intended purposes.

Yesterday, we saw where Peter started the execution process by first proceeding to Caesarea with the men Cornelius had sent to Joppa. He then used the education gained from the vision regarding what God considered clean and unclean to speak to the Gentile audience gathered at Cornelius’ home without any bias or judgment. Through His Son Jesus Christ, God had opened the opportunity for salvation to all people, both Jew and Gentile.

As we closed yesterday’s devotion, we found Peter asking Cornelius why he sent for him and this is where we pick up today for we see Cornelius answering Peter’s question saying:

“Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

Peter had went on the roof of Simon’s home to pray and after receiving his vision, the Holy Spirit directed him to go with the three men who had come looking for him and to do so without hesitation because the men had been sent by the Spirit. Note Peter didn’t know much about Cornelius until he went to the men and they said this:

“We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.”

I find it interesting that Peter didn’t start with what he knew already as he addressed Cornelius as well as his family and friends. He had Cornelius start from scratch and by doing so he learned more than what he did prior.

For example, Peter discovered that Cornelius had been engaged in prayer when the angel of the Lord came to him. Imagine how this had to have impacted Peter and reinforced what he gained from the vision. Peter was a Jew who became an important apostle of Jesus. He would have expected to receive special communication from God, either directly or through an angel.

But Cornelius was a Roman. Yes, he was a God believer and had shown the kind of selflessness that God commanded and expected but the average person on the outside looking in would not have placed him in even status with Peter when it came to their position in reference to the Lord. This is why it doesn’t matter what people think. It’s all about what God desires that matters most and God had deemed the time had come to remove His separation from people. As Jesus drew His final breath and surrendered His Spirit, the veil in the temple which separated everyone but the high priest from the Holy of Holies tore in half. Access to God was now available for all people, Jew and Gentile alike. The only requirement for eternal life was for one to place their belief in Jesus, His Son.

And so Peter knew that God had prepared both he and Cornelius for this moment of fellowship and ministry while each man drew near to Him in prayer.

It was in this prayer that Cornelius lets Peter know that God had commanded him via the angel to do what he did, send men to bring the apostle from Joppa to Caesarea. What Cornelius didn’t know was that the Lord had also come to Peter during a time of prayer and had prepared the way for the apostle to go with the men sent for him.

Again, Cornelius had been obedient to God’s preparation by sending the men as told. Peter was obedient to God’s preparation by going with the men to Caesarea. Together, both men made the way for God’s plan to be executed through being compliant with what God asked them to do.

But what was that plan exactly?

Well, we’ll find out more tomorrow as Cornelius and the family and friends gathered with him in the presence of God hear what the Lord would have Peter to tell them.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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